Finn is 2 Months Old!

I cannot believe that Finn is already 2 months old. I heard a saying today on the radio that completely describes raising kids, "The days are long, but the years are short!"

Our little firecracker!

He had his 2 month checkup with the pediatrician today. Officially, he weighs 13 lbs. 4 oz, which puts him in the 81%-ile, he is 23 in. long, which is 53%-ile, and his head was 16 in., which is the 66%-ile.

All smiles!

He got some shots that made him feel bad, but I'm sure he will be feeling better soon.

Everything checked out for Finn this time, with one exception. His head is not symmetrical. This condition is fairly common and it is called plagiocephaly. If you remember, Tucker had something similar called brachycephaly. The difference is that Tucker's head was/is wide and was extremely flat on the back, Finn's head is not overly wide and it is only flat on one side of the back. This causes his ears to be uneven, one side of his forehead to stick out more than the other, and his eyes are not even. Some studies suggest that, without correction, plagiocephaly can cause learning disabilities. Other studies say that there is no danger and correction is only cosmetic.

The doctor feels like Finn's case is significant enough that it can't be fixed by normal repositioning of the head and that we should put him in a helmet. Tucker wore his helmet for about 3 months, but Finn's is being dealt with early enough that it will probably only take 4-6 weeks to correct. There are two main companies that make these helmets, Cranial Technologies and Star Cranial. We used Star with Tucker and will probably use them again for Finn.

Tucker in his helmet at 11 months old.

Other than the awesome helmet, Finn is good and Tucker is also doing well. You can read about Tucker's latest cardiology checkup on his CaringBridge page. We are getting ready to gear up for school again and the boys will be starting back to daycare. 

Give me a kiss!

Thanks for reading and please don't forget to pray for David Hood and his family!

~Trent

Baby Finn!

Finn's 1st minutes

Finley Thomas was born this morning at 2:44am. He weighed in at 8lbs 8oz and was 20.5" long. He is doing very well and eating like a champ. Dena is also doing really well. She is up and moving around, I'm very proud of her!

Finn's 1st morning

Finley in the afternoon

Tucker got to meet his little brother today and he seemed to like him, although I'm sure things will change when this weird baby comes to Tucker's home. 

We will probably get to go home sometime tomorrow, but I will update if something changes. In the meantime, we are at Medical City Hospital in Dallas.

Yes, Tuck, that is your little brother!

Giving sweet kisses

Tucker is holding his brother for the 1st time

 I have included some of the best pictures from today, enjoy!

newborn Tucker vs. newborn Finley, do they look alike?

 ~Trent

Almost FINN-ished!

This past Sunday, Dena passed the 37 week mark in her pregnancy. Finn is almost ready to make his appearance. In fact, we thought he was going to come two weeks ago.

In case you didn't hear, Thursday, April 26th during our monthly grocery trip, Dena started having regular contractions. We called the doctor and she wanted us to come in to the hospital. They checked her out and found that she was dilated to 1cm and having real contractions, so they kept us there for a while for observation. After about 3 hours, she hadn't progressed any further and the contractions had slowed, so they sent us home.

Since then, she has had some more contractions, but nothing regular, and she hadn't really progressed much more. Yesterday, during the weekly OB check-up, they wanted to take another look at the baby with ultrasound just to get a better idea of his size. It was not a surprise to us to find out that he is going to be a big boy. At 37.5 weeks, he weighs between 8lbs 10 oz and 8lbs 14 oz. At his point in a pregnancy, a baby will gain about .5lbs per week, so if he goes until the due date, he will be at or over 10lbs. 

Dena's doctor discussed the option of an elective c-section, but we don't really like that idea unless it is an emergency. She also made sure we knew that she couldn't induce labor until 39 weeks, which is on May 20th. When they checked her, she is now dilated to between 2-3cm, which is good progress. The baby still hasn't dropped, but she expected Dena to be "favorable" by sometime next week.

All that being said, it seems like Finn is about finished up and ready to make his appearance. He has huge checks, big, wide feet, and seems like he is going to be another clone of me. Oh Joy! Dena and I are both ready for him to arrive and I actually think Tucker is warming to the idea too.

Dena is going to continue working until he gets here, secretly hoping that some kid will send her into labor. 

We would appreciate your prayers for continued health for Dena and Finn. Also, for a quick, safe delivery when he decides to come.

I will update if something changes.

~Trent

Surprise...AGAIN

Well, today we learned why cardiologists don't usually use their ultrasound machines to determine the gender of a baby.

Today we had our final appointment with the perinatologist, Dr. Weiss, who looks very closely at the baby to make sure that there is nothing wrong with any part of the baby. He, obviously, looked closely at the heart and he also looked at all of the other organs, appendages, etc. He also took some blood from Dena to run some tests on it.

The doctor said that everything looked great with the baby. There are the proper number of fingers, toes, ventricles, blood vessels, eyes, ears, etc. Everything looked perfectly normal and he said that there was no way that the baby had HLHS. WHAT A RELIEF!!! It doesn't appear that we will have any scary surprises this time and we are very thankful!

Profile of the new baby

After he had looked at all of the important stuff, the doctor asked us if we wanted to know the baby's gender. We told him that we did want him to confirm it for us, but that one of the cardiologists had told us last week that she was 95% sure that it was a girl. He replied, "I will be the judge of that and then I will text her and tease her if she was wrong!" So he began to move the baby around and then he said, "Well, I guess I have to text her." Dena said, "WHAT?" The doctor replied, "It's a boy!" Then Dena said, "But the cardiologist said that it was a girl!" So Dr. Weiss said, "Well, if this is a girl, then she has a weenie!" I nearly fell out of my chair laughing! Then the doctor showed us the visual evidence that the baby indeed is a boy.

It's a Boy!

After leaving Dr. Weiss' office, we met with Dr. Thomas, Tucker's cardiologist, to look again more closely at the heart. Last week when he looked, he couldn't see a number of the things that he needed to look at, but today he could see everything. The baby has 4 normal ventricles, a normal aorta, no evident septal defects, and normal blood flow in and around the heart. That is about as clear and normal as you can get at this stage of development. He actually even said that he was confident enough in what he saw today, that we probably don't need to come back for another look. What a blessing!

As I mentioned last week, we were hoping for a girl, but, above all, we want a healthy baby. I think that we both felt like it was a boy deep down. Regardless, Tucker will be a great big brother and we can't wait to watch them grow up and play together.

I do want to say that we have no hard feelings about this surprise! We knew that the cardiologist is not an expert at determining the gender of a baby. She told us that she was pretty sure (95%) that it was a girl, but that she couldn't guarantee it. The cardiologists use different wands for the ultrasound machine than OBGYN's use, they are designed to look at hearts, not at babies inside the womb. The cardiologist also isn't as skilled at manipulating the baby to get good shots of the parts.

Now the hard part will be changing our plans. We will have to repaint the baby's room, but we won't have to buy near as much stuff, since we still have all of Tucker's old clothes and toys. The hardest thing will be coming up with a name. We have had a girl's name picked out since before we got married, but we don't have any ideas for a boy's name. With Tucker, we saw the name and just knew that it was right, but I spent a while earlier tonight looking at boy's names and none of them really sounded right to me. Right now, the only two names that we even remotely like are Case and Reed, but we definitely are ready to stop looking yet.

We hope that nobody else had purchased anything for a baby girl yet. We did receive a few girl things at Christmas, but nothing big. We apologize for the change, but I can assure you that we were more surprised by today's events than anybody, except for maybe the cardiologist.

So, let's try this AGAIN...Surprise...It's a...

We hope that everyone has a safe and Happy New Year!

~Trent

Surprise! It's a ...

We had a visit with Tucker's cardiologist, Dr. Thomas, today. As a heart parent, this is a very nerve-racking experience, especially when it has been 6 months since the last checkup. The good news is that Tucker's heart looked great and we are still on track to have his last surgery in Summer 2013. You can read more about Tucker's checkup on his site: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tuckerhamilton

The other bit of news we have is that, while we were at the cardiologist, we were given the opportunity to get a look at the new baby's heart. We were Dr. Thomas' last patient before lunch, so he had some extra time and asked us if we wanted to check on the baby's heart. Of course, we didn't hesitate or waste this opportunity, even though we have our next Perinatologist appointment next week and were scheduled for a fetal ultrasound then too.

Dr. Thomas took special care to look at each ventricle and all of the major vessels of the heart that were visible. He told us that he could only see about 60% of the things he needed to look at, but that all of those looked good. Specifically, the baby appears to have 2 normal sized ventricles and the aorta looked good too. This is such a relief because those are the two main parts of Tucker's defect, HLHS. He will look at the heart again next week more thoroughly and then we will go back for a final check sometime before 25 weeks, which we are currently at about 17 weeks.

I can't tell you how excited and blessed we are to have this news. We expected to check for these things next week, but we were beginning to get nervous about it. The one thing that was holding us back from being completely ecstatic about this baby was the fear of a repeat experience. It was actually quite emotional for us...Dena cried! We know that we can't be 100% sure of everything for a few more weeks, but we do feel better!

Finally, one of the other cardiologists asked us if we might want to check on the gender of the baby. Again, there was no hesitation...we certainly did! The baby was not in the best position to get a good look at the gender and the doctor is not an expert at determining gender, but she felt about 95% sure that the baby would be.

So for the news:

The bottom line for us is that we want a healthy baby. But, if we could pick which type of healthy baby, it would definitely be a girl. We have our little boy and we both felt like a girl would be a perfect fit. We already have a name picked out, we already have the guest room painted in a feminine color to become the nursery, and we think that Tucker will be a good big brother for a little sister!

This was a great day for our family! Tucker's heart looks amazing, the new baby's heart looks good, and we found out it would be a girl. We are blessed beyond measure! If we don't get anything at all for Christmas, this will be enough! Honestly, this news is the best present that we could have asked for, special thanks to Dr. Thomas for making this happen!

Thanks for stopping by and supporting our family! We hope that everyone has a great holiday and has an opportunity to love on your family. Remember that the reason we celebrate Christmas is because our God sent his only son to us, to die for our sins. It isn't about presents, food, or prosperity, it's about a tough situation that ended up saving our souls!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!

~Trent

We're Having a Baby!

 Just a quick note to share the news that Tucker is going to be a big brother.

We have known for almost a month, but wanted to keep it a secret until we were closer to the safe zone. It has been really hard to not tell everyone, but we are glad that we waited. Dena had a obgyn appointment today and we got to see Baby Hamilton. Dena is 7 weeks & 3 days pregnant and the baby is exactly the right size and it's heart was beating strong at 162 bpm. The official due date is May 27, 2012, but we will probably schedule a delivery for the week before.

We made the decision to switch doctors for Dena this time around because Medical City is our hospital now and we needed a doctor that was there. We definitely don't want to take any chances with this baby. This is also why we will probably schedule the delivery a week early, we would have an hour drive if she went into labor unexpectedly. The new doctor, Dr. Diaz, is great! She made Dena very comfortable and she is really nice and easy going. We think we made a very good choice!

Probably the most common question that we have had so far is, "what are the chances that this baby will have a CHD?" CHDs occur in about 1 in 100 babies, HLHS occurs in about 1% of those babies. This baby will have about 1% higher risk of having a CHD, so a 2% chance. It is not very common to have multiple babies with CHDs, but it does happen. This is another reason why we will have this baby at Medical City. We will also have a very thorough fetal ultrasound at about 20 weeks to check on the baby's heart and other organs.

We are very excited, but also trying to be cautious. There is still a chance for miscarriage until about 9 weeks, but everything looked good today. Tucker doesn't understand yet, but he loves babies and will be excited...but probably jealous too!

We will keep you updated on Baby Hamilton's progress. We would appreciate prayer!

Thanks, as always, for visiting our page.

~Trent

Losing It!

It has been WAY too long since I really blogged! I've been meaning to write this post for a while now. Every time I would start, something would come up and I would get sidetracked. I've finally decided that I need to get back going on this page, especially since blogging is going to become a much bigger part of my life in the near future, but more on that later!

A little over a year ago, Dena and I made the decision to lose weight. We decided that we needed to be healthier and set a better example for Tucker. We made the commitment to each other, for Tucker, that we would get our eating under control! We decided to try Weight Watchers because they had a free trial going on and it looked simple enough. I have to say that it has not been nearly as hard as we thought it would be. We have both done a very good job and we are both healthier today than we were a year ago!

I must say that if you are considering losing some weight, we would both highly recommend Weight Watchers. We like the fact that you can still eat the things that you want, you just have to do it in moderation. I feel like this method really creates a lasting change in your life that will be easy to maintain after you are off of the plan. Crash diets, quick fixes, and the like can work, but they usually don't last! In my opinion, the faster you lose it, the quicker you will gain it back! We both use the online program and mostly track our points using the iPhone app. Once you get in the habit, it really becomes second nature and if you miss a few days tracking, you can usually tell if you were good or not just by how you feel.

Honestly, our decision to do this together has made all of the difference. If it had just been one of us, we wouldn't have succeeded! If you are married or dating, making a lifestyle change can only happen as a team. We do well together and we are bad together.

I also believe that this has helped Tucker to eat better and to slim down a little bit. While he has grown taller over the last few months, he has also been eating better because of us. His HLHS will be a constant struggle for his health, he doesn't need a weight problem to exacerbate things. Creating a habit of eating well now, will pay off for him in the long run.

So, you are probably curious about our results. I think the proof is in the pictures, which you can see below, but the numbers don't lie either:

-I (Trent) started this journey at a hefty 300 lbs. in August of 2010. Currently, I weigh 231 lbs. This is a total weight loss of 69 lbs. in a year. I have been as low as 227 lbs., but had a little too much fun and food during the summer and am trying to regain my handle on things.

-Dena has had a little tougher time, but this is expected for most women. Regardless, I am very proud to say that she has lost 36 lbs. over this last year. She has worked hard and I am very happy for her!

We are obviously still a work in progress but we have accomplished many of our goals. My original goal was to get down to 220 lbs., but since I have almost reached this goal, I have upped the ante. I now have a goal weight of 200 lbs., which would be a total weight loss of 100 lbs.

I have added some pictures below, so you can see our progress. If you have any questions about losing weight, we would both be glad to help!

Me in the same shirt: Before (left), 6-month progress (right)

Me & Dena, September 2010 (Before)

Me & Dena, September 2011 (After)

Me & Dena, September 2011 (After)

Me & Dena, September 2011 (After)

 

~Trent